Arrests Made In Robbery Attempt

Man, Woman Face Multiple Charges

February 27, 2004|By GREGORY SEAY; Courant Staff Writer

PORTLAND — A Hartford woman and man face multiple charges in connection with the attempted December robbery of the Cumberland Farms convenience store on Route 66 and High Street that left a store clerk injured, police said Thursday.

She was released on bail pending an appearance Thursday in Superior Court in Middletown to answer the charges, court officials said.

Harris, who is incarcerated in New Haven Correctional Center on an unrelated charge, is also accused of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and third-degree reckless endangerment, police said. He remained in custody Thursday with bail set at $30,000, authorities said. He is due in court March 12.

According to Lt. Ron Milardo, images of the pair from a store surveillance camera that were circulated to area police agencies, along with eyewitness interviews, led police to Garcia, who confessed and implicated Harris.

On Dec. 16, around 11:30 p.m., a man and a woman walked into the convenience store. Inside, the woman confronted a man and another woman who had been visiting the store clerk and accused the woman in the store with having an affair with her boyfriend.

The woman then began swinging a tire iron, breaking the counter, police said. The pair also tossed merchandise around the store. The clerk called 911.

Milardo said the suspects under questioning said they never knew the two people visiting the clerk. The suspects entered the store intending to rob it, but were thwarted by the presence of so many eyewitnesses, Milardo said.

Before police arrived, the man and woman got into a brown Pontiac, Milardo said. As they fled, the Pontiac struck the clerk who had run outside to copy the car's license. The clerk suffered a broken rib, Milardo said.

An investigation determined that the Pontiac's license plate had been stolen from a vehicle in West Hartford, he said.